The problem
Agency staff fill gaps but cost far more than the home's own staff, and the pattern is hard to see in a pile of invoices: which shifts, which days, sickness or vacancies. If the registered manager spends 4 hours a month putting agency invoices and rota gaps into a spreadsheet for the owner, that's 4 hours away from residents and staff.
What the AI does
Copilot in Excel analyzes workbook data and shows charts, PivotTables, trends and outliers. Each month the administrator puts the agency invoice lines and the rota's unfilled shifts in one workbook (date, shift, role, hours, cost and reason), with no resident information. The manager asks Copilot for agency hours and cost by shift type, day of the week, role and reason, compared with last month, with charts. The manager checks the totals against the invoices and takes the findings to the owner, such as recruiting for the night shifts that drive most of the spend. Copilot runs within the Microsoft 365 service boundary and doesn't use prompts to train the models.
A worked example
A 40-bed residential care home in Lincolnshire already pays for Microsoft 365 Business Standard. The registered manager adds one Copilot Business license for the monthly agency spend review.
Before
4 hours a month building the agency spend report by hand
After
About 1.5 hours, including checking totals against the invoices
What it's worth
About $100£75€89A$144C$141 a month in registered manager time saved, against $21£16€19A$31C$30 for one Copilot Business license paid yearly. 2.5 hours saved a month, at an assumed $40£30€36A$58C$56 an hour.
How to set it up
- Buy one Copilot Business license for the registered manager, $21.41£16.10€19.16A$30.91C$30.27 a month paid yearly or $25.70£19.32€22.99A$37.09C$36.32 monthly, excluding VAT, on top of the existing Microsoft 365 plan.
- Each month, put agency invoice lines and unfilled rota shifts in one workbook with date, shift, role, hours, cost and reason. Leave residents out entirely and use roles rather than staff names.
- Ask Copilot for agency hours and cost by shift type, day, role and reason, compared with last month, with charts.
- Check the totals against the agency invoices before sharing them.
- Agree actions with the owner, such as recruiting for the shifts that drive most of the spend, and ask the same questions next month.
What goes wrong
- Copilot can total or group wrongly if invoice lines are inconsistent. Check against the invoices.
- Sickness reasons can be health data about staff. Record only a category such as 'sickness', and keep the workbook in the home's Microsoft 365.
- Whether free Copilot Chat works inside Excel depends on licensing; analysis in the workbook needs the Copilot license, charged per user.
- Cutting agency use must never cut safe staffing. Staffing decisions stay with the registered manager.